March 23, 2007
Hotline After Dark: The Trail Ahead
Pundits went into full analytical mode after the John and Elizabeth Edwards' announcement:
Des Moines Register's Yepsen: "This was all a plus for John Edwards politically. When he canceled his trip here on Tuesday to deal with this, the political community in this state really held its breath because John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards have been all over this state, many Democrats here know them. Even people who didn't support him, they were just worried about what this meant. And so, it was sad news, but he handled it with grace, she handled it with courage. ... I think this will go down as one of the defining moments of the 2008 campaign. ... He was already the front-runner in Iowa and I see nothing today that changes that" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 3/22).
Paul Begala: "He's almost spent enough time in Iowa to pay property taxes there" ("AC 360," 3/22).
FNC's Cameron: "Democrats across the spectrum expect a sympathy surge for the ailing spouse, but the Edwards campaign knows itself full well, it will take much more than that to win the Democratic nomination" ("Special Report," 3/22).
CNN's Schneider: "Edwards has been criticized in the past as a rich populist who lives in a mansion. But it's going to be very hard for anyone to portray him as isolated from the real-life problems that ordinary people face" ("Situation Room," 3/22).
FNC's Kondracke: "There will be kind of a glow around them, I mean, there's a sense of poignancy, that's the best word I can think of. I would think that the one other political outcome of this is that there's going to be renewed attention to the two other cancer survivors here, John McCain, who had skin cancer and Rudy Giuliani, who had prostate cancer" ("Special Report," 3/22).
Tommy Thompson: "John Edwards knows what has to be done because he's been through it already. And this is just a reoccurrence. What you have to do is be as supportive as you possibly can be and give your wife the kind of attention that she badly needs, because she is going through not only turmoil, but tremendous emotional highs and lows. And she has got to be coping with this every single moment that she's awake. And she wants, of course, to survive, and we all do. And that is why the husband has really got to reach out and be as supportive as he possibly can be. And, really, you know, it's difficult but he has to reach out more than ever before to make sure that his wife knows that he is there, loves her, supports her and will continue to do so no matter what happens" ("LKL," CNN, 3/22). [EMILY GOODIN]
Posted at 07:15 AM
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